BEL AIR. MD. — The one-point-five-million-dollar command center on wheels gives the Harford County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Emergency Services a vital tool to coordinate resources in a time of crisis, and shifting it from a police base to the emergency operations center doesn’t sit well with Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler.
“For the last seven months, we’ve had this vehicle located at our southern precinct in a bay that was especially laid out for it with wiring, a 30-thousand-dollar wiring harness that goes to it. The people that oversee it out of our special operations are located in the southern precinct, but Bob Cassilly got mad.”
There’s no question, County Executive Bob Cassilly is mad, but he says it has nothing to do with moving the mobile center to a central location in Hickory.
It has everything to do with the sheriff.
Hear from County Executive Bob Cassilly and Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler as they speak on their thoughts about the command center
“It bothers me that the sheriff would come on and make these public statements to alarm people. Unnecessarily alarm people. Make them believe there was some kind of crisis in public safety when there’s not,“ countered Cassilly.
The command center moved to Edgewood seven months ago, and it’s been used 23 times, including six times for critical incidents.
Since it was purchased two years ago, emergency services has only needed it once.
Ironically, any time the mobile command center is deployed, a deputy must be present, because its classified data system on board must always be supervised.
An In Focus look at County Executive Bob Cassilly and Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler's contentious relationship
While public safety is its purpose, the debate over where to place it could be construed as personal, if not political, considering the two men’s history of clashing over more issues than they agree upon.
“Unfortunately, this sheriff has embraced politics and stepped into it and he’s been a political actor on the state level, the regional level, the county level,” said Cassilly.
“Bob Cassilly thinks he knows policing. He thinks he knows a lot,” said Gahler, “This is a police issue, law enforcement, public safety issue that he shouldn’t be meddling with.”
